Latest Projector News and Reviews

Sanyo’s Three: PLC-XU70 and more…

Recently at the 2005 Infocomm in Las Vegas, in case any of you couldn’t be there, Sanyo showed off its three new LCD office projectors. The PLC-XU70, XU73, and XU76 are identical machines except for the difference in lumens that each projector offers.

The lumens rates ascend starting with the XU70 at 1500 ANSI, the XU73 with 2000 ANSI and the XU76 with 2500 ANSI. So you get to decide how much money you spend and how much brightness you need for your applications.

I suppose we could all use a little more light, hence the increased lumens, but then again I once spoke to an old man who actually preferred viewing a display that wasn’t quite as bright because it hurt his eyes. What is great about the Sanyo’s is the BlackBoard feature allowing the projector to display an image onto dark surfaces like a blackboard in a classroom. If you are a teacher or if your office has limited space you can projector onto a dark wall or blackboard and get the same results as if you were to project onto a light reflective screen.

The XU70, XU73, and XU76 projector still displays great images onto the normal projector screens because it employs its white balance control. Many new projectors are incorporating the ‘no wait cool down’ feature to enable the user to literally pick up and go. This is becoming more and more mainstream since many businesses use the same projector for multiple meetings in different locations.

The average cool down time for most projectors is 15 minutes and this can cause scheduling problems for many businesses. I don’t know exactly what kind of projector lamps that the new Sanyo’s use but they must be extremely efficient and not wear down as easily. After all, one of the most important things you can do to extend the lamp life on most projectors is by letting your projector cool down and run the fan for a while prior to shutting down the machine.

The prices for the new projectors are not unreasonable considering their features. The XU70 retails at around $2500, the XU73 at $3000, and the XU76 at $3500. The price differences are obviously incremental due the increases of ANSI lumens that the projectors offers. And now it is time to list a few stats to appease the geeks in all of us.

All three have all the inputs you will ever need including S-Video, Composite, and HDTV capability. They have a native resolution of 1024x768p and boast of great color saturation and contrast ratios, even though they haven’t yet mentioned what the contrast ratios are. They can also, and this is the kicker, function as a terminal allowing you output to another computer display or perhaps another projector. Look here for more in depth news on these great marvels of technology that Sanyo is bringing forth.